Heat, Celts to play Game 7

- Lebron James single-handedly carried the Heat to victory in a must-win game for the Heat, who defeated the Celtics 98-79 behind Lebron's 45 points and 15 rebounds.  James started the game by making a scintillating 10 of his first 11 shots, most of them jumpers close to the basket.  He finished the first half with 30 points and had he made his last shot of the half, a 3 pointer, it would have set the all-time record for points in one half of a playoff game.
- The Celtics kept it close for a while behind another good game from Rajon Rondo, but even he faded in the second half, and his supporting trio was ineffective.  Paul Pierce only scored 9 points on a miserable 4 of 18 shooting night (He went 0 for 6 on three point attempts).
- Celtics coach Doc Rivers made some waves afterwards, writing the message pictured above to essentially tell his team that they should expect to be gone not just for Saturday's game 7 in Miami, but games 1 and 2 of the NBA Finals, which will be in Oklahoma City.  It is reminiscent of former Heat coach and current executive Pat Riley's motivational ploy from the 2006 NBA Finals when he said he'd pack "one shirt, one suit, one tie," despite going to Dallas with the possibility of two games if Miami lost the first.  Rivers has admitted in the past that Riley had the most influence on him of any coach.




Belmont Stakes tomorrow

- At 6:30 on Saturday afternoon, I'll Have Another will try to have just one more win as he attempts to become the first horse in 34 years to win the fabled Triple Crown.  The field is unusually large for the New York race, as there are usually only a single digit number of horses, but this year 12 entrants will make the trot.
- Despite the large field only 4 horses are considered viable threats to win the $620,000 first place payout and all the others have worse than 10-1 odds.  Those horses, in no particular order, are Dullahan, Union Rags, and Paynter.
- It's gotten to the point where the Belmont has nearly become cursed to winners of the first two legs of the Triple Crown, as there have been as many horses to fail in the Belmont since the last triple crown winner (11) as there have been winners total, the last being Affirmed in 1978.